Our Identity and Symbols

Our Identity and Symbols is on view at Nabu Museum in El Heri, North Lebanon, until 3 October 2026. The exhibition opened on 3 October 2025 and presents 65 items from the museum's collections. L'Orient Today names Karl Abi Karam as its chief curator; the museum's own page credits the show to Nabu Museum.

The exhibition traces geometric and symbolic motifs found in Levantine embroidery and dress back to the decoration of ancient Sumerian, Babylonian, Canaanite and Phoenician cultures. Its argument, as reported by L'Orient Today, is that these motifs survived across millennia through women's textile work. "This is a collective visual memory that has endured across time and space through women's everyday practices," Karl Abi Karam told the paper.

Objects on display include a princess's costume from Mount Lebanon, engraved silver tantours, abayas and thawbs of the 18th and 19th centuries, ancient ceramics and glass from Mesopotamia, a Phoenician figurine of the god Baal dated 1400 to 1200 BC, a 1913 icon of Saint Anthony and a reference to the stele of the Sumerian king Ur-Nammu. A contemporary wooden work by Gebran Tarazi, whose practice revisits traditional Levantine ornament, is also shown.

Much of the research behind the exhibition comes from the work of Heike Weber, according to Faysal Sultan, quoted in the same article: "Much of the collection and research presented in this exhibition stems from her work."

The exhibition is a collection display rather than a contemporary art show, and it sets textiles and domestic crafts alongside archaeology. Admission to the museum is free.